Course Records Shattered at 41st California International Marathon

December 12, 2024

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /OUTDOOR SPORTSWIRE/ – Both the men’s and women’s course records were shattered on Sunday at the 41st running of the California International Marathon (CIM).

On the men’s side, Tsegay Weldlibanos, who is originally from Eritrea and now competes internationally as an asylum athlete, broke the tape in 2:07:35, broke Jerry Lawson’s 31 year old course record of 2:10:27 by nearly three minutes.

Defending champion CJ Albertson of Fresno, Calif. finished in second place in 2:10:06, also under Lawson’s prior mark. Alberston finished under 2:11 in each of his five competitive marathons in 2024 – a remarkable feat of endurance for an elite distance runner.

“It’s been a long time since my personal best of 2:09 in 2019. To run 2:07 today, I’m so happy,” said Tsegay Weldlibanos. “To the organizers of CIM and all the people along the course, thank you so much.”

In the women’s race, pre-race favorite Calli Hauger-Thackery of Great Britain crossed the finish line in 2:24:28, a time that bested the prior course record of 2:26:02 set by Paige (Stoner) Wood in 2022. Jackie Gaughan of Boston, Mass. charged in the second half of the race to catch Hauger-Thackery and ultimately finished just 12 seconds behind the Brit.

“I was hoping for the course record and the win. I’m so happy to secure that,” said Calli Hauger-Thackery. “I had a race at the end. I looked behind me at mile 23 and I was like, ‘oh wow, she’s coming.’ So I had to put on a sprint.”

Hauger-Thackery was greeted at the finish line by her husband, coach, and training partner Nick Hauger, who himself finished third in the men’s race.

“It was really special,” Hauger-Thackery said about competing in the same marathon with her husband for the first time. “It pushes you on a little extra.”

Stephanie Bruce of Flagstaff, Ariz., a mom of three kids, finished in third place in 2:28:41, a masters (age 40 and over) CIM course record.

Both race winners, Weldlibanos and Hauger-Thackery, take home $15,000 in prize money plus $5,000 bonuses for breaking the course records. The top ten finishers in each gender received monetary prizes.

The California International Marathon is organized by the Sacramento Running Association (SRA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.

“CIM is a civic institution for the greater Sacramento region, and this year’s race exhibited great achievement – from the very best of long distance running in our race’s history to thousands of runners finishing 26.2 miles for the first time or reaching their personal bests,” said SRA Executive Director Scott Abbott. “This civic amenity has been a great pride for our region for these last four decades, and we look forward to continuing this annual tradition for years to come.”

In addition to the 10,000 marathon runners from all 50 U.S. states and 41 countries, an estimated 1,000 CIM relay runners, 75,000 spectators, and 4,000 volunteers also participated in the festivities. The race generated an estimated $15 million economic impact for the Sacramento region and has raised more than $500,000 for local charities and community organizations through leveraged fundraising and direct giving.

Full race results can be found here.

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Contact: Kevin Liao